Stars
by mintbanana
Summary: He had started to notice her habit of associating things with people. Short Cloti oneshot. Fluffy stuff.


_Disclaimer: Don't own. _

_This happened on the way home from school one day (ages ago; I got lazy) cos it's winter and it's always dark when I get home. It was really clear and since I'm a bit spacey I was wandering along looking at the sky and all the stars, and so this was born. Sounds dumb, I know. Oh well, please enjoy, review, you know the drill XD_

**Stars**

One thing he had noticed recently was how often she associated things with people. The first time had been one day when he had come home from a delivery run to find her adding coal to the fire. As she did so, she absentmindedly commented that fire always reminded her of Red and of being back in Cosmo Canyon, sitting around the Candle.

From then on, he started noticing the little things she would say, like when someone had been smoking heavily in the bar she would laugh that it was like Cid had dropped in for a visit, or when they went to watch the fireworks at New Year and she would say that they reminded her of Yuffie; bright and colourful, but burning out quickly. Apparently the smell of the oil when Cloud was working on his bike reminded her of Barret and how he would always sit and oil his gun arm religiously every night, and Marlene's stuffed moogles would cause her to make some joke about fortune telling. Just silly little things, but somehow significant all the same. However, he found that she never seemed to say anything about him. Was there nothing she associated with him? Although he knew it shouldn't, the thought began to bother him.

One night, he came home from a delivery and, as he parked the Fenrir, he noticed Tifa sitting on the roof of the bar. She had obviously heard the bike and looked down, and was now waving at him. He waved back and headed inside, not bothering to take off his coat as he headed up to join her; it was cold out.

"You're home earlier than I thought you'd be," she said cheerfully as he climbed out of the skylight and came over to settle himself next to her.

"You weren't waiting up, were you?"

"Mm? No. I just like to come up here. Seems like it's going to be cold though; it's really clear tonight. Makes me wonder if that old man still lives up on the Great Glacier. Do you remember how cold it was up there? Every time it freezes now I think about that." Cloud nodded silently. Then his question came back to his mind. Turning it over a few times in his mind, he eventually decided he would just go ahead and ask.

"Hey, Tifa… You know how you do that association thing? I was just wondering… is there anything that makes you think… of me?" She blinked at him, and he immediately felt foolish. He sounded like a little kid. But before he could take back the question, she gave a little laugh, and answered.

"Well, there is something. It's… actually partly why I'm out here tonight." she tilted her head back and stared upwards, a distant smile playing on her lips.

"Whenever I see stars, I always think of you."

"Because of the night in Nibelheim when we made the promise, right?"

"Not quite; there's more to it than that. Stars are… Well, from here, they're beautiful, but they seem so cold and distant, and we don't really know that much about them. But then, we learn, and we learn that really, they're not cold at all, and that, up close, there's far more to them than we ever realised, and they're still beautiful, but in a subtly different way. That's what I think anyway. Sounds kinda silly, right?"

"No… It doesn't sound silly at all. I… like it." She smiled.

"We'd better get back inside. It really is going to freeze. I can't feel my feet anymore." He nodded, and stood, pulling her up after him. However, the roof had already begun to freeze a little, and she slipped on a small patch of ice and ended up clutched against him, staring up with a look of alarm.

"Oh Cloud! I'm sorry, I should've looked to see… What?" He smiled.

"You know, from this angle, your eyes look like they're filled with stars, you know?" She frowned.

"But I'm looking at you… Oh. Are you teasing me?" She huffed slightly and pushed herself away from him, trying to suppress the smile that tugged at the edges of her mouth.

"Maybe," he said lightly, before quickly pulling her back and giving her a very brief kiss on the forehead. "But maybe I like them that way." And then he climbed down through the skylight, leaving a rather bewildered Tifa to stand on the roof and mumble something very fast under her breath that sounded like:

"whatjusthappenedohmygoshhedidn'tbuthedidohwhatdoesthismean?!"

-End-


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